12 - Friday, May 22, 1992 - North Shore News

Local natives prepare
for Gaatuwas project

Bella Bella, Pacific Rim native peoples gathering

BENEATH THE shadow of
The Lions — the twin peaks
known in native legend as
The Two Sisters — there is
a marina.

By Paul Hughes
Contributing Writer

Situated on what is now called
Mission Reserve, home ot the
Squamish, it is an up-to-date fa-
cility, filled with sleek fibreglass
boats. Expensive, many of them.
Fast. Modern.

Sandwiched among all the latest
in 20th century craft is a wooden
workshed. Inside is the cegular
beat of steel meeting wood and
the rich, warm smeil of cedar.

Cedric Billy, master-carver, is
working on the ancestor of all
boats — the kaxuth, a sea-going
canoe.

It is the first time in 50 years
that such a canoe has been built
on the North Shore.

Unlike all the modern vessels
surrounding it, the kaxulh will not
be powered by gas, diesel, or the
latest in synthetic sail material,

lt will be driven instead by
sweat, sinew, and most important
of all, the history of Coast Salish
culture.

I am sitting in the High Boats
Cafe, a few hundred yards away
from where the kaxulh is taking
shape, talking with Bob Baker,
cultural coordinator for the
Squamish Band.

We are talking about Frank
Brown and the Gaatuwas project.
This event will be a canoe gather-
ing at Bella Bella in August 1993
of native peoples throughout the
Pacific Rim — not just North
America, but from places as far
away as Hawaii and New Zealand.

It is a massive undertaking,
destined to shape the direction of
culture, politics, and social
strategies for indigenous peoples.

And, of course, it is one of the
reasons the Squamish are buiiding
their kaxulh.

The birth of Gaatuwas, and
possibly the rebirth of interest in
native heritage, took place when
Frank Brown organized the
voyage of the ‘“‘Glwa’’ from the
Heiltsuk village of Beila Bella to
Expo 86 in Vancouver.

The expedition sparked excite-
ment and paved the way for the
Paddle to Seattle in 1989.

It was in Seattle that the invita-
, tion was extended to ail canoe-

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NATIVE
AFFAIRS

culture nations to come to Bella
Bella for the Gaatuwas, ‘‘people
gathering together in one place.’’

Bob Baker was interested.

“I got on the phone to Frank to
find out what was going on. Then
I went to my council and started
lobbying for a log ... to get ~vith
the program.

“T just felt a necessity to have a
canoe built, to get it in the water,
to get involved with our neighbor-
ing nations, to get out there and
get this back into our biocd.”*

ft is indeed in their blood. At
one time hundreds of oceaa-going
canoes would line the beach in
front of St. Paul’s church,

The kaxulh was nearly the only
method of transportation, a har-
vester of food from the sea, an
instrument of war, a crucial com-
ponent of survival.

Their use even extended into
this century.

Said Baker: ‘‘Cur old-timers
would paddle back and forth to
Vancouver as recently as the
1960s.”

T asked him why he got involv-
ed in the project:

“The reason § got into this is
because I'm a water person, and I
believe our nation is neglecting a
very important part of our culture
— that is, being involved with the
water.

“I think our spirits are being
stifled because we're not on the
water, and we're not harmonizing.

“Our people have this’ inside
them, yet they’re not on the
water. 1 attribute this (as the

reason) for all the crime and
problems with our youth right
now. It’s because they’re not in-
yulved.

“If they find out who they are
— canoe people, water people —
they become more aware of what
their purpose is here. They'll reai-
ize certain strengths about
themselves.”’

It is a strength that Baker has
obviously realized within himself.
He is determined to awaken the
awareness of heritage within his
people, not only by getting them
to take part in such events as the
Gaatuwas project, but by
establishing rediscovery camps on
ancestral territories.

One camp is already near com-
pletion on Defense Island in Howe
Sound.

The kaxulh will even come into
use here, transporting people in
the traditional manner to father-
son encampments, mother-
daughter encampments — occa-
sions meant to kindle self-
awareness, self-discovery.

Baker seems to take a special
interest in the Squamish language.
As we talk, he takes the time to
point out the native names for the
places we are discussing.

For instance, he says, the name
of Mission Reserve ‘vhere High
Boats Cafe sits, is ‘‘Ustlawn’’ in
the Squamish tongue, meaning,
“facing the mountain.”

“My Indian name is, ‘Saapluk,”’
he says. ‘‘That name used to
belong to Chief Joe Capilano. It's
a pretty heavy name ... a big re-
sponsibility.”’

At Ustlawn, in the shadow of
the Two Sisters, the name of
Saapluk seems to be in good
hands.

Squamish Band hosts festival

THE SQUAMISH Band is
hosting the 11th Annual First
Peoples Cultural Festival,
Saturday, May 23, at the
Capilano Reserve, south of
Marine Drive on Capilano
Road in North Vancouver.

The event, scheduled to take
place from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.,
is sponsored by the Urban
Native Indian Education Socie-
ty.

The festival will feature a
native arts and crafts fair,

native food, special children’s
entertainment and appearances
by Gary Abbott, Annie Frazer,
Rick Patterson, Evan Adams,
Bob George, Ernie Philip,
David Campbell, First Nations
Drummers and Sen’klip
Theatre.

Tickets are available at the
Native Education Centre, 285
East 5th Ave. in Vancouver, or
at the site.

For more information call
873-3761.

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